Learn Electronics with Arduino: An Illustrated Beginner's Guide to Physical Computing

by Jody Culkin, Eric Hagan

This book is your introduction to to physical computing with the Arduino microcontroller platform. No prior experience is required, not even an understanding of basic electronics. With color illustrations, easy-to-follow explanations, and step-by-step instructions, the book takes the beginner from building simple circuits on a breadboard to setting up the Arduino IDE and downloading and writing sketches to run on the Arduino. Readers will be introduced to basic electronics theory and programming concepts, as well as to digital and analog inputs and outputs. Throughout the book, debugging practices are highlighted, so novices will know what to do if their circuits or their code doesn't work for the current project and those that they embark on later for themselves. After completing the projects in this book, readers will have a firm basis for building their own projects with the Arduino.

Written for absolute beginners with no prior knowledge of electronics or programmingFilled with detailed full-color illustrations that make concepts and procedures easy to followAn accessible introduction to microcontrollers and physical computingStep-by-step instructions for projects that teach fundamental skillsIncludes a variety of Arduino-based projects using digital and analog input and output

Genres: Technology, Programming, Computer Science, Engineering, Nonfiction, Reference

374 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 12, 2017

Reviews

[Santiago Ortiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

With Arduino, and this book, it's easy to start learning electronics. The book contains very good explanations of electronics basics, features nice projects to build, and is beautifully illustrated.

[Bazingo Bro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book for learning the basics of electricity and Arduino programming. I've learned more about electricity and the systems using it from this book then the entire 5 years of my highschool education.

Every project and chapter mentions the parts needed, so you'll never run into unexpected components you need to get.

Definitely a great book for any person, regarding of age, to start their own journey as a maker.

[Daniel Li · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was very slow and repetitive. There are times when there's a dialog box repeating the exact sentence that was printed a few sentences ago. Every single line of code is explained over-thoroughly, even though the logic (e.g. how to call a function, how to define a constant) has already been covered 4 or 5 times already. Most of the diagrams are not really diagrams, but rather pictures to fill the page. The only reason I finished it is because there's not much on each page, which made me believe I can finish it quickly.

Some parts were also inaccurate or misleading, especially around the topic of PWM and how the voltage is 'averaged'.

Did I learn something? Yes, but I can probably write down everything I've learnt from this 374-page book in 2 A4 pages. So the content to fluff ratio is very low.

The book assumes you don't know any programming and half the book is spent explaining programming concepts like variables, loops, functions, etc. So if you have absolutely zero programming, no electronics experience, and love reading picture books, or if you are a child, then this book may be for you.

[Mali Perica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for anyone that wants to learn basics of electronics and also Arduino programming.
Sometimes it is a bit repetitive, but you can notice that and just skip those parts. For experienced software engineers you can skip parts of basic programming explanantions.
I was learning electronics in high school more than 10 years ago and haven't used that knowledge in the meantime. This book got me up to speed and even clarified most of the stuff about electronics.
Recommended !

[Joseph Sher · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was fun, easy to follow, rich in information, practical and it delivers the promised.

But I wish there was more of the theory for the other common components like Transistors, Capacitors and etc...

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great introductory book to the subject of electronics and Arduino. It would be an ideal book for the beginner or someone with no previous knowledge of electronics. Ideal for helping to teach younger children the subject as well.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Made!
This book was a great lesson on creating electronics with Arduino.

I have been getting into hobby electronics lately, and this was a great reference.

Would recommend!

4.5/5